<p>THES ranked UT as 15th in the world in 2005 I believe. They’ve dropped off a bit recently, but UT still uses 15th to promote itself. That was 2nd of all public universities behind Berkeley. After that they separated UT and UT Southwestern, which brought UT down. I don’t consider them to be the same university, but I do think that UT Southwestern should be used as part of UT/UT System’s place as it’s the number one medical school for UT grads in terms of number of matriculants.</p>
<p>UVa is well thought-of nationally because national reputations tend to hinge quite a bit on age and the strength of the College of Arts and Sciences. UVa is exceptional there. For UT’s age of only 125 years and the fact that it has such large and not elite colleges of liberal arts and natural sciences, their rank is outstanding. The only school that has had an even more impressive rise is UCLA, who have come from essentially being a community college as late as 1919, as well as having the largest student body by far in California, is simply amazing.</p>
<p>The research ranks are something entirely different and are much more grad-focused. UT does very well here, as does UWashington, but UW’s undergraduate school is simply not that impressive, whereas UT’s is a notch above. US News doesn’t even measure faculty research output, which is what THES does, and is more of a measure of a schools “undergraduate strength,” or really more “how like the Ivies is your school.” UT has a very strong though not exceptional undergraduate offering, but it’s graduate schools are in the very top of the school.</p>
<p>All I can see is you are throwing out random numbers to justify a ranking that you’ve completely made up. And you’ve had no rationale whatever: you justify raisng UCLA on your scale “because it’s closer to those schools” yet place Texas down a tier on your own scale.</p>
<p>Using the FSPI as a measure of a school’s worth is riddiculous, to be frank. All you are really doing is measuring how many publications can be churned out by the school, ignoring things like the ENTIRE STUDENT BODY. Again, UT is hurt by numerous factors under this scale, specifically the fact that it’s med school is independent (and highly ranked by FSPI, as well) and that it’s strength does not lie in the arts and sciences which are the primary focus of the FSPI.</p>
<p>I agree with you that UT is not Berkeley. But I don’t see why you’ve completely let us hijack this thread to demean a school. UT is an outstanding institution, and simply it’s faculty’s productiveness or it’s academic rank by a newsmagazine that has no particular expertiese in tertiary eudcation. One of UT’s main draws are the non-academic factors, such as the weather, the social atmosphere, and the people, which really are unmatched at any top-tier institution.</p>
<p>The fact is that even by combining ranks, you can’t get an accurate picture of the worth of a university. When US News ranks UCI as 42nd and Shanghai 34th and THES as 96th in the world but Washington Monthly as 8th, you have an issue that defies categorization.</p>
<p>The fact is, that of it’s designated peer institutions, the only schools UT really ought to care to compete with, UT is probably directly in the middle. Berkeley, Michigan, UCLA, and UNC are definitely above it–though the gap, particularly between UNC and UCLA, has been rapidly closing. Wisconsin, Illinios, Washington and UT are all about the same level if you look at their size as well as their overall strength. Then would come Ohio State, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Indiana in the back third.</p>
<p>UT does not even try to compare itself to schools like UVa, William and Mary, or the smaller UCs because they are different types of universities. They are much much smaller and don’t deal with the same issues, particularly with selectivity.</p>
<p>If UT were as small as Berkeley, it would be one of the top 3 public institutions in the US. With only 60% of the undergrads, Berkeley can focus much more on undergrad instruction as well as research, whereas UT is burdened with larger numbers of undergrads. UT could be largely kids who were in the top 5% of their graduating class and all have 2100 on their SAT easily. Instead, it offers a first-class education to a large number of students, something I think is very admirable.</p>
<p>And finally, I will give a shameless plug to UT’s honors programs, which are without peer in the United States. I challenge you to find a school offering more diverse and well respected honors offerings.</p>